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Fourth Global Summit — Unlocking the Potential of Cities to Contribute to Whole-of-Society Efforts to Rehabilitate and Reintegrate Returnees from Conflict Zones

Publication Date:

19/10/2023

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Event Reports

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City-Led ActionFourth Global SummitRehabilitation and Reintegration

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On 19 — 21 September 2023, Strong Cities Network held its Fourth Global Summit in New York City, which brought together over 240 participants, including city leaders and practitioners representing more than 115 cities from 50 countries globally. The Summit featured 11 events and provided city officials from diverse contexts with the opportunity to share and learn from promising practices for city-led prevention of hate, extremism and polarisation. Read the event report here.

As part of this three-day programme, Strong Cities hosted a workshop on ‘Unlocking the Potential of Cities to Contribute to Whole-of-Society Efforts to Rehabilitate and Reintegrate Returnees from Conflict Zones’, which brought together more than 50 mayors, local government officials and frontline practitioners to share good practices and lessons learned on rehabilitation and reintegration (R&R).

The workshop was informed by findings from Strong Cities’ engagements with cities, which has shown that local governments across the world are concerned about their ability to effectively and sustainably reintegrate returnees from conflict zones, whether this relates to those who travelled to join the Islamic State (ISIS) or otherwise. While local government representatives agreed that cities need to be involved in R&R, many shared they are not included in related national frameworks and processes. Moreover, they commented how, where they are included, they are not adequately empowered and/or equipped to play the role envisioned for them. 

This workshop sought to address these challenges by highlighting different examples of city-led R&R efforts and internationally recognised good practices and guidance, which local governments looking to become engaged in R&R can draw lessons from and contextualise for their own efforts and purposes.

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